iDesign LASIK and Wavefront Technology
iDESIGN LASIK
Lipstock LASIK & Cataract Center is the first to provide for our region the amazing iDesign LASIK technology. We have been using wavefront technology for over a decade but iDesign 2.0 software has brought it to a new level. Let’s first learn about basic Wavefront technology.
Wavefront technology creates a personalized 3-D map of the patient’s visual pathway (from the front of the cornea to the back of the retina). It enables us to not only treat nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism (lower orders of aberration or LOA’s) but also higher orders of aberration (HOA’s). The LOA’s are from simple spherical or oval shapes. The cornea is either too steep (nearsighted), too flat (farsighted) or oval (astigmatism). HOA’s are subtle, irregular optical imperfections that can affect the quality of your vision. HOA’s cannot be corrected with eyeglasses but can be minimized with the iLASIK procedure to give you sharp vision.
Our exceptional LASIK results are unmatched & updated regularly. 99% 20/20 vision or better * as of May 24, 2023
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5 Star Review from Jana C.
“I had LASIK eye surgery performed here and highly recommend Lipstock LASIK & Cataract Center. Beyond having several years of experience and using the latest technology, they have the human element that’s imperative for this type of service. Dr. Lipstock, Karen, Diana, and the rest of the team were extremely thorough and supportive throughout the pre-op, op, and post-op process. I felt reassured/comfortable and my anxieties were constantly put at bay. Also, it’s amazing how quickly your vision improves! Only one day later and I was already seeing so much better than I have in years.”
WAVEFRONT GUIDED VS REFRACTION DRIVEN
A refraction is what we do when we measure your refractive error in an exam room and ask you,”What’s better, #1 or #2?” This technology has been around for hundreds of years. It is what we have used in the past to program our laser to correct LOA’s during LASIK. Wavefront Guided with the new iDesign software is what we use in our Precision Plan LASIK patients. For our A and B Plans, we use the data derived from the refraction for the “conventional” LASIK treatment. The results of wavefront-guided LASIK are far superior to those of conventional LASIK, especially for higher refractive errors.
WAVEFRONT GUIDED VS WAVEFRONT OPTIMIZED
Whereas, Wavefront Guided treatment, as we use, captures all the LOA’s and all the HOA’s (over 20 types of HOA’s) there is another technology that uses something called Wavefront Optimized technology. The latter uses the data from your simple refraction and then adds to that the treatment of only one of your HOA’s called spherical aberration. Wavefront Guided, especially with the iDesign software, provides a better result. Recently, a study by Dr. Edward Manche, the director of the Refractive Surgery Department at Stanford University, did a head-to-head study of the results of these two technologies. He found that the quality of vision from iDesign wavefront treatment was significantly better than that from Wavefront Optimized. iDesign wavefront guided treatment has enabled us to achieve very consistent clear vision for our patients.
What is iDesign LASIK?
iLASIK first starts with the Intralase laser 100% blade-free approach to creating the corneal flap. These flaps are 3x stronger than those created by a blade. Also there are significantly fewer flap related complications than with a blade. Unlike with a blade if there is a problem while making a flap with the Intralase laser only bubbles within the cornea were created. If the surgeon opts to not proceed with the surgery typically the next day the patient is comfortable and seeing clearly with their old glasses. This is a rare outcome, but it provides comforting safety.
Then the STAR S4 IR Excimer Laser, with the newest I Design 2.0 wavefront-guided software, is used. It first centers onto the center of the cornea and it follows the tiny motions of your eye, repositioning the laser to ensure precision. It then gently reshapes the cornea based on the digital information from your personalized wavefront guided 3-D eye map.
iDesign 2.0 SOFTWARE
Lipstock LASIK & Cataract Center is proud to be the first to provide this to our Richmond patients. It consists of a very significant upgrade in Wavefront Guided technology. It provides the most personalized laser vision correction available. Wavefront technology in general sends into the eye harmless straight laser beams that reflect off the back of the eye and then exit the eye in aberrated directions depending on the patients LOA’s and HOA’s. Standard wavefront guided technology sent in 250 beams and iDesign 2.0 sends in 1200. Also iDesign captures the detailed topography of the outside of the eye, i.e. the corneal shape. Since some areas of the cornea may be steeper or flatter than others, that can affect the actual energy of each individual beam of the laser. So, for example, a beam that is perpendicular to the cornea has the most effect on the cornea. The further away from a perpendicular angle the beam approaches the cornea the less the energy level applied to that one spot on the cornea. So, not only is your wavefront data guiding treatment, also each pulse of the laser’s energy is altered relative to your outside corneal topography. This is true “artificial intelligence” in action!
No one in the world will receive the same procedure. In most cases, you’ll immediately see the difference. After a few hours you will begin to see more and more clearly. In most cases, after one day you can return to your normal routine.
Please, contact us if you are interested in learning more about this technology, our results, or setting up a free consultation at Lipstock LASIK & Cataract Center.
*Our results are continuously updated as they come in using iDesign laser technology (First in Richmond). The results reported are for men and women ages 18 to 39 (non-reading glasses age) up to a very high amount of nearsightedness (-9.00 diopters) and astigmatism (4.00 diopters).